WE ARE MOVING!

We are making some big changes in our life AND location, and wanted to share this news with our valued farm family.

Over the past 5 years or so, my husband Eduardo and I, have been dreaming up this idea to move our family to a Latin American country, near the coast, purchase a big plot of land and re-start our farm over there. We made a decision to try and make this dream a reality and started calling it our “5 year plan”.

We first were very serious about Costa Rica. I have lived there in the past and we have visited there multiple times and love the weather, the culture, the natural beauty, and the people there. But after looking at some pieces of land there on a visit in early 2022, we didn’t feel like it was the right place for us long term.

Then…late 2021, Panama kind of came onto our radar. We started researching living in Panama, immigrating to Panama as a US citizen, we started looking at land there online, and felt like this could be where God was calling us. We planned a trip there in October 2022, but because of some passport issues we had to reschedule our trip for February 2023. When we finally arrived at our Air B&B after a whole day of flying and driving with 3 young kids in tow, and very little sleep, we weren’t sure what we had got ourselves into!

The next morning, I woke up early with our 8 month old and walked out to the patio to check out this view that was supposed to be amazing. Well, “amazing” doesn’t even begin to describe it. To me, it was like a piece of heaven on earth.

I could see (and smell) the gorgeous blue sea just beyond the mangrove forest with rippling gentle waves and fishing boats floating by; I heard and saw birds of all colors and types, flying above chirping their morning songs; I saw cattle and horses grazing on the green hillsides right near the villa we were staying at; I could see the outline of the Volcan Baru far off in the distance. And then the quietness - the quietness was my favorite. The peace and slowness and only nature sounds and watching all the different animals go about their peaceful business, was a song to my soul. It honestly brought tears to my eyes, and I said out loud “This is why we came here! Thank you Lord!”

(video & photo below of that view)

I knew right then, that this was where I wanted to live. We had prayed for that “feeling” when we came to Panama. That God would speak to us through his Spirit and let us know if this was where He had planned for us to go next. We wanted to feel that “this could be home” feeling. And we totally did.

So, the point of me sharing all that, is that we will be buying a large piece of land just up the mountain from where I had that overwhelming moment of ecstasy. We will be selling our home/farm here and moving our family and life to Panama, before the year’s end. Our plan is to re-create what we have built here at Nourish Farm in Turlock, on a larger scaler, down in Panama.

There are so many reasons that we have decided it is best for us to leave California & the USA to raise our family and start over in this new place.

I’ll share a few of them:

• Clean, pure, living water that we can pump from our own well

• Year round streams (on our own land) for us and our animals to play in and drink from

• Clean air away from large industrial agriculture operations and/or factories/plants/dumps/etc

• Lower price of land

• Slower paced lifestyle

• An opportunity for my husband to work in a job that doesn’t keep him from us every day of the week AND he can have a more reliable schedule of time off

• Raising our kids in a society that values family, childhood, quality time, relaxation, and natural beauty

• Raising our children on an even bigger farm

• The ability to be surrounded by natural, unadulterated beauty at all times, and be able to go on adventures nearby with more ease than we are able to where we live now

• Having more land means we’re able to grow/raise even more of own food.

• Living away from many of the distractions of modern society. Although society there [Panama] has all the amenities and “modern things” we need, it is not as “in your face,” especially the area we plan to live in.

• Both of us have always wanted to live near the ocean (my husband surfs), we could never afford to do that here in California.
  

We are of the mindset that we get one life, and if we can make this desire a reality, and we feel the Lord’s calling in it, then we need to go for it!

We will GREATLY miss our family here and the community that we’ve built here. We will miss you all! We are so grateful for all of you who have been a part of Nourish Farm, Sunkissed Botanics and/or are here because you are wonderful family/friends. We will miss handing out orders at the gate, seeing you at events we host, hosting farm tours and DIY workshops, collaborating with our favorite local businesses, and enjoying all the other ways Nourish Farm has brought so much joy and fullness to our life.

The personal growth we’ve experienced here will serve us well as we embark on another adventure and build another farm as a family. We pray that we can find and create another amazing community like we have here. Lastly, we invite you to follow along with us as we continue this journey. We humbly ask for your prayers, because we know this won’t be easy. We plan to have guest houses built within a couple years and would love to host you and your families in the future!

Our house will be listed on the market soon. And depending how fast that goes, we plan to be moving by the middle of Summer.

We will no longer be selling our lamb meat or botanical products. I will be having a final sale on my botanical/skin care products soon. I will send out an email when that is happening.

I still plan to offer my Postpartum Prep consulting services virtually, and will still have my recipe book and other digital offerings available.

Feel free to respond to this with any questions. I’ll try and answer in a timely fashion!

If you read through this whole email, thank you so much. Thank you for your support and thank you for your love. I’m sending you love right back.

Xoxo

STAY NOURISHED,

Nicole, Eduardo and the boys

(keep scrolling for a few more bits of information)

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A few more things:

• We will be listing our home/farm this week (April 13), if you’d like to take a look or know someone who may be interested in it, I can send the link. Or you can just google our address [952 9th St Turlock]

• We will be needing to sell our sheep and lambs. Most of our ewes are pregnant already and all our lambs are old enough to be away from their mothers. We also have an amazing breeding ram. If you’re interested in purchasing them, please reach out!

• We will need to sell our non-aggressive, beautiful rooster and laying hens. If you’re interested, again please reach out.
  

Here is a list of our favorite local farms and businesses, that we purchase food from and/or have worked with:

Six Eight Coffee Roasters

Mission Bakehouse

Hen & Harvest Farm

Lucille & BESTIE wine club

E&H Farms mushrooms

Vanderhelm Farms in Oakdale

JJ Ramos Farmstand

Valley Edge Produce